Hospital  and  Dispensary,  Nellore,  South  India 


The  Nellore  Hospital 

Dr.  Lena  A.  Benjamin 

BEC.AUSE  of  the  vast  ignorance  and  superstition  of  the  people  of  India  in  regard 
to  the  science  of  medicine  and  because  of  the  peculiar  social  conditions,  the 
women  are  in  very  special  need  of  medical  help,  such  as  we  of  the  West  can 
give  them.  The  doctors  are  doctors,  not  because  of  training,  but  by  heredity, 
and  have  most  peculiar  and  erroneous  ideas  regarding  anatomy,  physiology,  hygiene  and 
therapeutics.  Such  diseases  as  cholera  and  smallpox  are  attributed  to  the  influence  of 
certain  goddesses  instead  of  being  the  work  of  specific  germs  as  has  been  definitely 
proved.  Of  course  with  such  an  idea  as  to  the  cause  of  the  disease,  the  natural  way  to 
try  to  stop  an  epidemic  is  by  propitiating  the  goddess  And  thus  they  spend  their  time 
and  money  on  processions,  lights,  music,  flowers  and  offerings,  making  no  attempt  to 
disinfect  or  isolate  the  cases. 

Crude  drugs,  such  as  mercury,  opium,  croton  oil,  etc.,  are  employed  freely  and  in 
very  large  doses,  so  that  many  a patient  dies  of  poisoning  rather  than  of  disease. 

Burning  with  a hot  iron  or  a lighted  cigar  is  a favorite  method  of  treatment,  espe- 
cially of  convulsions  due  to  any  cause.  Most  of  the  babies  of  the  land  bear  scars  on 
their  foreheads  and  over  their  abdomens,  where  they  have  been  burned  at  birth  to 
prevent  convulsions. 

Many  diseases  are  supposed  to  be  due  to  demon  possession,  and  the  demon  is  exor- 
cised by  many  ceremonies,  concluding  with  a severe  beating  of  the  patient,  which  not 
he,  but  the  demon  within,  is  supposed  to  feel. 

Perhaps  the  child  wives  of  India  suffer  most  of  all.  Many  girls  are  mothers  at 
twelve  and  sometimes  younger.  And  these  little,  undeveloped  children  at  such  a time 
are  in  the  hands  and  at  the  mercy  of  the  native  midwives,  who  are  the  most  ignorant  of 
women.  Like  the  doctors,  they  know  absolutely  nothing  of  their  work.  They  are  not 
only  ignorant,  but  dirty  and  superstitious  to  the  last  degree.  The  things  they  do  are  too 
terrible  to  tell.  The  wonder  is  that  any  survive  their  ministrations. 

It  was  because  of  such  conditions  that  it  occurred  to  some  of  our  women  that  a hos- 
pital for  these  suffering  sisters  would  be  a suitable  gift  to  celebrate  the  Centenary  of 
Missions.  And  so  the  hospital  was  planned  in  1894,  the  land  procured  in  Nellore  and 
building  operations  begun  in  1895,  and  the  present  buildings  were  finished  and  the 
hospital  was  opened  in  1896.  Dr.  Ida  Levering  and  her  sister.  Miss  Mary  Faye,  who 
were  already  well  beloved  in  Nellore,  were  in  charge.  They  carried  on  the  work  most 
successfully  for  about  three  years,  when  they  both  came  home  on  furlough.  When 


they  returned  to  India  they  went  to  anotlier  station.  After  they  left  Nellore,  tlie  liospital 
was  closed  for  a few  months  because  of  no  one  to  do  the  work.  Then  Dr.  Caroline  Coates 
went  out,  and  she  and  Miss  Lillian  Wagner  worked  together  for  some  time.  In  1901, 
Dr.  Coates,  finding  the  work  too  heavy  while  still  studying  the  language,  was  transferred 
to  Ramapatnam  ; Miss  Wagner  went  to  Hanumakonda  to  work  with  Dr.  Timpany,  and 
the  hospital  at  Nellore  was  again  closed,  and  no  regular  work  was  done  until  July,  1904, 
when  it  was  begun  again  by  Dr.  Lena  A.  Benjamin  and  Miss  Katherine  Gerow.  Since 
that  time,  it  has  gone  steadily  on.  Miss  Annie  Magilton  and  Dr.  Anna  Degenring  being 
on  the  field  ready  to  take  over  the  work  when  the  others  came  home  on  furlough.  Both 
Dr.  Levering  and  Dr.  Coates  did  a beautiful  work  and  their  names  are  still  frequently 
on  the  lips  of  many,  even  of  the  caste  women  of  Nellore. 

The  original  buildings  were  only  intended  as  a beginning  of  what  would  be  required 
if  the  work  prospered.  They  are  already  insufficient.  The  main  building  contains 
altogether  but  six  rooms,  tw'O  upstairs  and  four  below.  Of  these  rooms,  one  is  the 
operating-room  and  another  the  office.  That  leaves  but  four  rooms.  There  is  also  a 
small  detached  building,  making  five  rooms  in  all.  None  of  these  rooms  are  large 
enough  for  more  than  four  beds  and  part  of  them  will  hold  but  three.  If  we  put  a fourth 
patient  in  we  have  to  put  her  on  a mat  on  the  floor.  Sometimes  we  put  from  one  to  four 
beds  in  the  office.  Nearly  always,  except  during  the  rains,  we  have  three  or  more  beds 
on  the  veranda.  Sometimes  we  have  had  to  keep  a patient  in  the  operating-room. 

There  is  no  place  which  can  be  used  as  a laboratory.  There  is  no  storeroom  at  all. 
There  is  no  place  which  can  be  set  aside  and  kept  ready  for  labor  cases  aside  from  the 
operating-room,  which  is  too  small  for  its  original  purpose,  let  alone  being  made  to  serve 
a double  one. 

Thus  we  need  ( i)  two  wards,  one  for  general  and  one  for  obstetrical  patients.  The 
present  rooms  will  be  utilized  for  private  and  European  patients.  (2)  A new  operating- 
room,  the  present  one  being  used  for  sterilizing,  etc.  (3)  A number  of  small  rooms  for 
laboratory,  labor-room,  storeroom,  etc.  (4)  A small  separate  building  for  an  isolation 
ward. 

The  dispensary  building  also  is  insufficient.  The  waiting-room  is  very  small.  Dur- 
ing the  busy  part  of  the  year  it  will  not  hold  one-half  of  the  patients.  There  is  no  room 
but  the  compounding-room  for  the  patients  to  go  to  for  their  medicines.  Consequently 
there  is  great  noise  and  confusion,  and  it  is  difficult  for  the  medicines  to  be  put  up  or 
given  out  correctly.  We  have  no  dressing-room  but  the  back  veranda,  where  abscesses 
are  opened,  teeth  pulled,  ulcers  and  wounds  dressed,  ears  syringed,  etc.  The  publicity, 
as  well  as  the  small  space  it  affords,  makes  it  very  inconvenient. 

So  we  need  here  (i)  a new  waiting-room,  using  the  old  one  for  the  patients  to  go  to 


for  their  medicines,  avoiding  their  entering  the  compounding-room.  (2)  A new  consult- 
ing-room, taking  the  present  one  for  a dressing-room.  (3)  The  small  bathroom  back 
of  the  compounding-room  enlarged  for  a stockroom,  the  present  small  stockroom  becom- 
ing a bathroom. 

We  also  need  new  buildings  for  the  nurses,  as  the  present  ones  are  altogether  insuffi- 
cient and  are,  moreover,  in  a very  dilapidated  condition.  The  wall  in  front  of  the  com- 
pound should  be  extended  all  the  way  round  to  keep  out  pigs,  donkeys  and  cattle,  not  to 
mention  the  too  much  interested  friends  of  the  patients. 

We  rejoice  at  the  generosity  of  the  Baptist  women  this  last  year,  which  has  made 
possible  part  of  these  improvements. 

There  is  urgent  need  along  another  line, — that  is  for  another  physician.  Because 
of  the  heavy  work  and  the  great  responsibility,  no  one  doctor  should  be  compelled  to 
carry  it  alone.  In  a recent  year,  we  had  nearly  eighteen  thousand  dispensary  cases  and 
about  one  thousand  outside  visits  besides  the  in-patients.  What  doctor  at  home  has  that 
amount  of  work?  Then  there  are  operations  and  other  difficult  cases  where  it  is  practi- 
cally an  impossibility  for  one  to  do  the  work.  Were  there  always  two  on  the  field, 
branch  dispensaries  in  neighboring  villages  could  be  carried  on  with  great  advantage. 

Besides  the  actual  medical  work,  there  are  native  Christian  girls  to  be  trained  as 
nurses  and  midwives,  and  that,  too,  with  almost  nothing  in  the  way  of  text-books  in  their 
own  language  as  an  aid.  This  is  a very  important  work,  for  these  girls  later  on  may 
become  a great  blessing  to  their  own  country-women  both  in  ministering  to  them  physi- 
cally and  spiritually.  The  preparation  of  text-books,  after  one  has  sufficient  command 
of  the  language,  is  another  important  phase  of  our  work. 

Are  there  not  Christian  young  women  physicians  in  the  home  land  to  whom  this 
work  will  appeal?  Nellore  is  not  the  only  place  in  the  Telugu  field  that  needs  you. 
Even  now  there  are  two  hospitals  closed  because  there  are  no  physicians.  Where  in 
America  can  you  make  your  lives  count  for  so  much  ? 

I have  written  only  of  the  physical  side  of  the  work,  but  let  no  one  think  that  is  the 
only  side  or  even  the  most  important.  There  is  every  opportunity  for  presenting  the 
gospel  to  those  whom  we  serve,  and  because  of  our  medical  skill  we  enter  many  homes 
where  others  cannot  go.  Pray  that  all  engaged  in  this  kind  of  woik  may  have  the  ever 
present  help  of  Christ  and  a special  enduement  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  His  name  may 
be  honored  and  that  He  may  be  glorified  among  the  people. 


Price  2 cents 


Woman’s  Baptist  Foreign  Missionary  Society 

Ford  Building,  Boston,  Mass- 


20  cents  a dozen 


